


teach my feet to fly

by UnrememberedSkies



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: As idealistically festive as a Richard Curtis film, Ben Hargreeves is Alive, Fluff, Gen, Ice Skating, Kid Fic, Klaus has the elegance of a baby deer on rollerskates, Let the Hargreeves children be happy 2k19, The kids forget they have to pay for stuff, Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-08
Updated: 2019-12-08
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:13:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21722779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnrememberedSkies/pseuds/UnrememberedSkies
Summary: The kids sneak out to go ice skating because Klaus has his heart set on it. Too bad anything that requires elegance, poise, and a sense of balance is not among Klaus's list of talents...
Relationships: Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Diego Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, The Hargreeves Family
Comments: 14
Kudos: 107





	teach my feet to fly

**Author's Note:**

> Title from 'River' by Joni Mitchell, because it's a fic about skating... and that's a song about skating. Idk. Find me on [Tumblr](https://unrememberedskies.tumblr.com/)

Darkness was falling and Reginald started up the wipers to brush the first flakes of snow of the year from the windscreen. In the passenger seat, Luther dozed lightly against the window, his breath clouding up the glass. In the middle seats, Diego and Allison quietly bickered over whether his knives or her rumours had been ultimately responsible for taking down the bad guys this time. Squeezed into the back seat, Klaus and Ben were locked in an intense Thumb War whilst Five refereed. 

A kind of peace seemed to settle on the car along with softly falling snow. Reginald was satisfied with the outcome of the mission, the jewel thieves had been apprehended, and the media was singing the praises of the Umbrella Academy. That meant no lectures, just peace and quiet.

Until something caught Klaus’s eyes that is.

“Oh, wow, look at that!”

Ben used his distraction to claim victory in the Thumb War, but Klaus didn’t seem to notice. He was craning his neck to peer out of the window.

Outside, an abandoned parking lot they had driven past a hundred times had been transformed into a winter wonderland. An ice skating rink had been laid down, surrounded by brightly lit trees and festive stalls. People wrapped in warm coats, scarves, and hats whizzed past, holding hands, twirling and gliding like birds caught in an air current. 

Klaus scrambled over Five’s lap to press his hands and nose against the window. Five made a noise of complaint, but couldn’t resist looking himself.

“I can’t see!” Ben complained.

“It is simply an ice rink, children,” Reginald chided. “Please act with some decorum.”

“Dad, can we go?” Klaus asked, leaning across the middle seats, between Diego and Allison. “For doing so well in the mission? Please?”

“You performed adequately in the mission, but no better than expected. I hardly think that merits a reward.”

Klaus drooped a little. Diego shot him a sympathetic look. Allison patted his shoulder. Klaus sat back in his seat, twisting his neck to look at the rapidly diminishing lights of the rink.

Ben nudged him in the shoulder. “Rematch?” he whispered.

Klaus folded his arms, lower lip quivering, and didn’t answer.

They pulled up outside the Academy and trudged inside in silence. And that was the end of that.

~

That was not the end of that.

A few days later, when Reginald had locked himself in his office for the evening, Klaus sent word about that they were having a secret meeting up in the attic. That was, he sent Five hopping about the house like a particularly grumpy messenger pigeon. Five grumbled about it, but Klaus knew he liked to practice his spatial jumps. And, more importantly, scare their siblings by appearing literally out of the blue.

It took longer than he would like for everyone to assemble, and it was done with a lot more muttering and sighs than he would have liked, but finally the seven of them were in the attic. And Klaus had six pairs of eyes looking at him expectantly, with varying degrees of patience.

“What’s this about Klaus?” Allison asked. She had three fingernails painted a glittery orange on one hand. He’d obviously caught her in the middle of doing them. “I was making the most of Dad being out of the way.”

“Wrong!” Klaus said, pointing a finger at her theatrically. “You’ve not been making the most of it, but I can change that.”

“Today, Klaus,” Diego said, folding his arms.

“We’re going ice skating!”

There was not the outpouring of excitement that he had expected. His siblings looked at each other.

“Dad said no,” Luther finally said.

“What Dad doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”

Luther looked to Five for support. Five was frowning like he was thinking about it. Klaus caught his eye and gave him a wide-eyed hopeful look. If Five agreed, surely the others would follow. 

Five met his eyes, then looked away, sticking his hands in his pockets. “Let’s do it,” he said. “Might be fun.”

Klaus beamed at him. Five pretended not to notice.

As predicted, the others caved pretty much as soon as Five agreed to it. And soon excited chatter filled the attic.

Klaus clapped his hands excitedly. “We need hats and scarves and gloves!” he said, already thinking of what he was going to steal from Allison.

“Meet at the backdoor in ten minutes?” Luther said, unable to resist taking the lead on all expeditions, even when he had been the first to protest.

They all went their separate ways, Klaus speeding ahead to Allison’s bedroom to beat her there and get first dibs on her stuff.

Fifteen minutes later they were all more-or-less ready and gathered at the back door. Another five minutes later they were all crowded at the bus stop, bouncing on the balls of their feet, both in excitement and to ward off the cold.

As the bus pulled up a the stop, they realised that none of them had thought to bring any money. Luckily, Allison was on hand to what she called _sweet talk_ the driver, and what Diego called something less flattering that made her hit him across the arm.

They finally pulled up outside the ice rink, which was even more magical-looking up close, with twinkling fairy lights strung across the rink, and a light dusting of snow on top of the little stalls. Klaus’s eyes were as wide as saucers as they all scrambled off the bus and made their way through the people milling around cradling cups of hot chocolate and mulled cider, their breath misting in front of them.

Klaus led the way, _oohing_ and _ahhing_ at the delicious smells of hot street food, the tempting stalls stocked full of candy and gingerbread, the brass quartet cheerfully belting out jaunty Christmas songs. They approached the booth renting out the skates, where once again Allison had to ‘sweet talk’ the man, as the thought of paying hadn’t crossed anybody’s mind. Once they were through, they sat on the benches and pulled on the skates.

“I have blades on my feet,” Diego gushed, “this is awesome!”

They made their careful way to the entrance of the rink, and took their first tentative steps onto the ice. Allison took to it first, to the surprise of no one. She made a few experimental foot movements before her natural grace took over and she was gliding across the ice like she was born to do it. 

Diego followed, wobbling a little at first, and staying upright through sheer force of will. His fingers flexing as he gathered speed, like he was trying to use his power to control the blades on his feet. 

Vanya and Ben had come to the conclusion that there was security in pairing up, and were clinging to each other, both of them wobbling dangerously when one of them lost their balance. They were both frowning in concentration, but whenever they caught each other’s eye they would collapse into laughter, which would lead to them both falling on their asses and then struggling to help each other up.

Five watched the others for a few minutes before he even ventured onto the ice. He analysed their footwork, how they held themselves to stay balanced, and only stepped onto the ice when he was confident he knew how to do it. He promptly fell flat on his ass, and Ben and Vanya wobbled over to pick him up. When they finally got him upright, he was blushing furiously.

Luther was under no illusions that he would be good at this, but that wasn’t going to stop him. He barrelled out onto the ice, arms flailing wildly as he tried to stay upright. Somehow, he managed to make it all the way to the other side of the rink without falling, although he did crash into the barrier with enough force to make it groan.

He turned around and grinned at the others. “I did it!” he said happily, before launching himself away from the barrier to make his flailing way back to the other side.

Diego shook his head at the sight, and turned to find Klaus, wondering if ice skating was living up to all his expectations. He scanned the skaters, searching for the purple bobble hat Klaus was sporting. When he couldn’t find Klaus on the rink, he frowned, wondering if his brother had gone to the restroom.

Then his eye fell on the entrance of the rink, where Klaus was clinging to the barrier, looking miserable as people brushed past him to get onto the ice. Diego skated over to him, sliding to a halt before his brother with a little more flourish than necessary. Klaus gave him a dejected look.

“What’s up?” Diego asked. This had been _Klaus’s idea_ , and he was the only one who wasn’t having fun.

“I can’t do it,” Klaus whined.

Diego rolled his eyes. “Of course you can.”

“I can’t! I keep slipping.”

“It’s ice, dude,” Diego said with a smile. Klaus didn’t return it.

Instead, he waved a dismissive hand at him, before turning away. “It’s fine,” he said sulkily. “Go and have fun. I’ll wait for you guys on the benches.”

“No way,” Diego said, holding out his hand to him. “You wanted to skate, you’re gonna skate.”

Klaus looked at his hand, then back up at Diego. “What if I fall?”

“I’ll catch you,” Diego said with a shrug, as if it was obvious.

Klaus hesitated before taking Diego’s hand, then putting one tentative foot onto the ice. Diego murmured encouragingly as Klaus put his second foot on the ice. A split second later, Klaus’s feet went from under him and his arms flailed wildly before Diego managed to catch his other arm to stop him landing heavily on the ice.

“I told you,” Klaus said, one hand gripping Diego’s hand, and the other gripping the lapel of Diego’s coat.

“And I told you I’d catch you,” Diego said, skating backwards a little, pulling Klaus with him. If possible, Klaus gripped even tighter. “Now look up at me.”

Klaus obeyed with some reluctance, dragging his gaze away from his feet. As he looked up, he wobbled, his left foot careening off to the side.

“You’re like a baby deer,” Diego said, laughing, as he steadied him.

“Shut up,” Klaus said, blushing pink. “We can’t all have a dancer’s elegance.”

“I’m not a dancer,” Diego said, raising an eyebrow.

Klaus arched one back. “Don’t lie, I’ve seen you practice routines in your room when you think no one’s looking.”

“Y’know, I think I’ll just leave you to it,” Diego said, pulling away from Klaus’s grip and skating backwards a few feet.

“Diego!” Klaus screeched immediately, waving his hands around as he tried to keep himself upright. He slipped and started to fall backward, when Diego skated back to catch him. 

Klaus looked up at him, scowling. Diego grinned. “Maybe you don’t mention dancing again and I don’t let you go, okay?”

“Fine,” Klaus grumbled. “You’re a dick, you know that?”

Diego laughed, took Klaus’s hands again, stepping away just enough to let Klaus manoeuvre. “Okay. You’re going to want to lean forwards a little, bend your knees.”

“I’m going to fall,” Klaus said, as he tilted forwards slightly.

“No, you’re not,” Diego reassured him. “Bend your knees. That’s it.”

He started to move backwards, pulling Klaus with him. Although they were going excruciatingly slowly, Klaus was still pale with terror. They drifted in the flow of the skaters, Diego showing Klaus how to push his feet so he could move himself without Diego.

“Don’t let go of me,” Klaus begged.

“Just one hand,” Diego said, easing his hand out of Klaus’s grip so they could skate side by side. He was getting tired of nearly bumping into people because he was skating backwards. 

Klaus made an unhappy noise as Diego moved around to his side, choosing to grip Diego’s captive arm with both hands now. “Try holding your other hand out for balance.”

Klaus stuck his hand out nervously. With an encouraging look from Diego, he pushed one foot outwards experimentally. Then the other. Soon, he was moving forward with his own momentum, although somewhat jerkily.

“I’m doing it!” he said gleefully.

“Looking good, Klaus!” Allison said as she zoomed past them. Klaus raised his hand to wave at her. The movement threw him off balance, and he fell backwards, falling with a surprised ‘oof’ as his ass landed on the ice. Diego, who had relaxed a little, didn’t react quickly enough, and went tumbling down after him.

He landed half on top of Klaus, who started to giggle. Diego laughed as well, rolling onto his knees and pushing himself up. Klaus tried to use him as support to get up, but Diego, who was nowhere near stable enough to be used in such a way, went down again.

“Oh, my god,” Klaus said, laughing so hard he was struggling to catch his breath. “That’s it, I’m done. I live here now.”

“Idiot,” Diego said, fondly.

“Need any help?” Luther said, skidding to an ungainly stop beside them. 

“Not unless you want to join the pile-on,” Diego said, quickly getting to his knees. Nothing would be more embarrassing than Luther picking him up after he’d _fallen_.

“Ugh, please don’t,” Klaus said, propping himself up on his elbows. “Diego is so heavy, you wouldn’t believe.”

Diego sent him a betrayed glare, even as he got to his feet. “I should just leave you there.”

“By all means,” Klaus said with a shrug. “I told you, this is my new home.”

Diego and Luther looked at each other, before Luther leaned down and hauled Klaus to his feet, setting him down on unsteady feet.

“Thank you,” Klaus said, primly. 

Diego looked at him. “You good to go?”

Klaus nodded with renewed determination. Hands outstretched like he was feeling his way around in the dark, he pushed forward with one foot, then the other. He made his faltering way across the ice, unaided and grinning broadly.

Luther looked at Diego. “You look like a proud mama hen,” he commented.

Diego narrowed his eyes at his brother. “Shut up,” he said. “Or I’ll push you over.”

“Not if I push you first.” Luther lunged towards him and Diego glided out of the way.

“Too slow,” he said, laughing. “As usual.”

~

Klaus was making his way over to Ben and the others. Ben waved but Klaus didn’t wave back. He wasn’t going to make that mistake again. As he approached them, he realised he hadn’t yet worked out how to stop, and Ben had to grab him before he went careening into the barrier. Fortunately, he hadn’t been going particularly fast.

“Not yet mastered stopping, then?” Ben asked, laughing.

“Hey,” said Klaus, jabbing a finger into Ben’s chest. “Be happy for me, I couldn’t even stay upright not so long ago.”

“I am happy for you,” Ben said. “But you’re going to have to speed up if you’re ever going to beat me in a race.”

“You know, you’re too competitive for your own good, Benjamin. Not everything is about winning.”

Ben smirked. “You only say that when you know you’re going to lose.”

Klaus stuck his tongue out, and Ben grinned at him, moving slowly to join the stream of skaters. He waited for Klaus to catch up, and slowed his own gait so Klaus wasn’t left behind.

“You are, like, really bad at this, dude.”

Klaus scowled at him as he struggled to catch up, wobbling dangerously. “I’m already beautiful and intelligent. I can’t have it all.”

“Sure you can’t,” Ben said, smirking at someone over Klaus’s shoulder. Klaus didn’t dare turn to see who it was, for fear of falling over again. “But don’t you want to go a bit faster?”

“I’m happy if I can just stay upright,” Klaus said, concentrating so hard he didn’t see Diego draw up on his other side.

“But going fast is so much fun,” Diego said. Klaus risked a glance at him, feet sliding off a little before he regained tentative control.

Diego looked at Ben. “Ready?”

“Ready,” Ben said, eyes twinkling.

“What are you-?” Klaus started, before screeching like a banshee as Ben and Diego took hold of a hand each, and started dragging him along the ice _fast_.

His legs flailed a little as his body adjusted to the massive increase in speed, but Ben and Diego held him firmly between them, keeping him upright and propelling him forward. Soon, he got into the rhythm, and was skating in time with them. 

The three of them zoomed around the rink, dodging between other skaters, shouting out to the others who cheered and whistled.

The cold air rushed past Klaus, chilling his skin and chapping his lips, but still he grinned widely, feeling freer and happier than he had in a long time.

This was what he’d dreamed off when he’d first saw the ice rink from Reginald’s car. This feeling, the exhilaration, the adrenaline, like he was flying.

~

Afterwards, they all got hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows, and huddled like penguins in a tight circle.

“That was amazing,” Vanya said, her smile wide.

“It really was,” Luther agreed. His nose was pink from the cold.

“I’ve got to admit, Klaus, this was one of your better ideas,” Five said, nudging Klaus, a look of grudging respect on his face.

“Yeah, thanks Klaus. This was really fun,” Allison said.

“To Klaus,” Diego said, raising his mug of hot chocolate. The others clinked their mugs together, and Ben squeezed Klaus’s arm.

Klaus felt so warm inside he thought he might be glowing.

**Author's Note:**

> Klaus is the clumsy people representation I have been waiting for. I have been ice skating exactly once and was even worse at it than Klaus.
> 
> Kudosers and commenters get a hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows!


End file.
